LGBT Murder Rate Rose 217% in 2016

More LGBT people were killed in the United States in 2016 than in any of the 20 years since record-keeping began, with the total boosted by the deaths of 49 people in an attack at a gay club in Florida last June, an advocacy group said on Monday.

The release of a report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs coincides with the first anniversary of the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Including Pulse victims, murders of LGBT people rose 217 percent in 2016.

The coalition, which has released the report since 1997, said LGBT people remain vulnerable to violence in 2017, especially in what it described as the current “incendiary political climate.”

“Recent executive orders as well as ongoing efforts to pass anti-LGBT legislation and roll back protections at the city, state, and federal level make LGBT people vulnerable to identity-based discrimination,” Beverly Tillery, with the New York City Anti-Violence Project, said in a statement.

Most of the victims knew their murderers, the report says, stating that those commonly included employers, neighbors, landlords and family members, it said.

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Will Kohler is one of America's best known LGBT historians, He is also a a accredited journalist and the owner of Back2Stonewall.com.
A longtime gay activist Will fought on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic with ACT-UP and continues fighting today for LGBT acceptance and full equality.
Will’s work has been referenced on such notable media venues as BBC News, CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The Daily Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, and Raw Story.
Back2Stonewall has been recently added to the Library of Congress' LGBTQ+ Studies Web Archive.
Mr. Kohler is available for comment, interviews and lectures on LGBT History.
Contact: Will@Back2Stonewall.com